Only 37 percent of Americans are confident Obama will make the right decisions

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that only 37 percent of Americans are confident that President Obama will make the right decisions for the country’s future, while 63 percent are not. According to the Washington Post, those numbers are the mirror image of what they were when Obama was sworn into office in 2009 and lower than at any other time the question was asked by the Washington Post and ABC News poll.

As Obama prepares to give his fifth (sixth if you count his 2009 non- State of the Union), State of the Union address, it must be sobering to know that the new poll finds his approval rating at 46 percent, with 50 percent disapproving. That may be up from 42 percent in November, but this is the first time on the eve of a State of the Union address more Americans rate his performance negatively than positively,

The Post also points out that Obama’s approval ratings are almost identical to those of George W. Bush at a similar point in his presidency in 2006.

Sixty-two percent say the country is headed “pretty seriously off on the wrong track.”

Fifty-five percent disapprove of how Obama is handling the economy.

Fifty-nine percent disapprove of his implementation of ObamaCare.

He fares poorly in foreign policy as well. Only 33% approve of his handling of Syria. Only 39% approve of his handling Iran. And while he has a positive 50-42 percent approval rating for handling the threat of terrorism, he has slipped under majority approval on this issue for the first time in his presidency.

Only 47 percent now say Obama “understands the problems of people like you,” while 52 percent says he doesn’t.

Obama’s weakness leaves his party vulnerable. Independents now back Republican candidates by a 12-point margin.